Dying Sun
by Gale's Magic Fingers
Summary: The gods are fading, as Pan and the spirits did before them. Apollo is dying, and each day, the sun gets dimmer and dimmer, but he's not one to just wilt away. For Kay! ::oneshot::


The first change is small. The sun simply rises a few minutes later than usual, and falls quite a bit later than its daily time. That doesn't matter, right? Stuff like that happens all the time. Solstices, for example, when Apollo must sit on his throne and pretend to watch his family fight about the stupidest of things while really listening to his iPod and the audio recording of _The Lightning Thief._ He really must talk to Rick; the whole "fan fiction" thing was getting out of control, and if his sister saw one more "Child of Artemis" fic, a lot of so-called "writers" would wake up without hands…or worse.

As the days get shorter, people still fail to notice. It's called electricity, so they don't need him anymore. The gods are fading and they don't even notice it. Apollo keeps faith though, because maybe, just _maybe, _they'd appreciate him one day; recognize him for who he is. As the clock seems to speed, Apollo is fading faster and faster, but he refuses to give in. A lot of people tend to write him off as a dumb god, or an unimportant one because of how he plays his image. Do you honestly think a three thousand year old guy writes terrible Haikus all day long? Apollo has more going for him than most people would ever dream of attempting, and he doesn't really appreciate being underestimated.

Dionysus is the first to go, and he goes down drinking. That's expected. The lazy god sat around while the others worked hard. The wine god wasn't that important to humans, anyway. He mostly just fueled their unhealthy habits. One might go as far as to say that the world would be better without him. That one would be dead before his sentence was finished. There are many things that can classify Dionysus, but "nice" is not one of them. As the last of the wine slides away from the Earth, the humans just blame in the government. Because that's _totally _possible. When Dionysus is finally gone, some gods weep. Others just continue to fight the war that consumed their friend.

Athena, surprisingly, is the next to vanish. With all her plots and plans, she forgot how much the world actually doesn't need her. The people of the world don't _think,_ they simply _do, _no matter how much they try to convince each other that the opposite is true. As she fades, Apollo watches his sister —his _genius_ of a sister — disappear forever, and watches the effect it has on the world. It isn't terribly huge; just a few less smart people among the muck that is the human brain.

The days are still growing shorter. The sun doesn't rise until nearly nine-thirty now and he ends up quitting wherever he is by nine in the evening. People are starting to take notice, but not enough.

The gods are going faster now. Artemis went next. Apollo is still mourning the death of his twin, and well, let's say there aren't many virgins left in the world; not as many as before. Normally, Apollo would be happy about this, but all he feels is sadness. Hephaestus goes after Artemis. The world just wasn't into his kind of inventing anymore. Demeter departs next. Most of the gods are glad to be rid of her nagging. Hera disappears from her throne one day, all virtue in the world leaving with her. Zeus may look heartbroken, but he's really just sad he's lost his "arm candy," or whatever the kids called them now.

Pretty soon, it's down to five: Zeus, Aphrodite, Ares, Hermes, and Apollo. The first and last two are probably easy to guess as to why they've lasted so long. Many debate why Aphrodite has made it so far. Most would say it was because of all the vain people in the world, while others would argue that it was love that held the world together. Either way, it won't be long before she goes, too. Ares' reason was probably guessable. With all the war, how could he not? Hermes had probably survived because of the gossip.

Then slowly, Ares fades. It's such a slow process that it's almost as if he was never there —or that he never left. Just one day, they woke up, Ares was gone, and the world was at peace, at least for a bit. They were down to four Immortals, but they had all come to face it: they were going to face, just like everyone else had. It was quite a peaceful observation. Aphrodite's departure had a very obvious effect on the world that should never, ever, _ever_ be mentioned. Hermes took the Internet with him, and progress was reversed by almost twenty years.

When Zeus faded, the sky darkened and stayed that way. There were no more storms, but then again, there wasn't any weather at all. This could be counted as a bad thing, unbelievably. None of this mattered to the Sun God. He was alone. All alone for the rest of eternity (or until he faded; which would probably be next Tuesday.) He continued to force himself in the air in the mornings, and drag himself across the sky in a sun chariot for a bunch of ungrateful humans who didn't even acknowledge him or his greatness. Why should he even do this anymore?

It happens to next day, as he's flying across the Atlantic, thinking about how lucky Amelia What's-Her-Name had been to just drop off the face of the Earth and not have to worry about what happened to it in her absence. The chariot starts slowly descending. Apollo realizes he's fading, but he can't really care right now. As the sun chariot he'd been driving since practically the beginning of time began to skim the surface of the salt water, he sighs. Maybe it was true what they said— a god doesn't fade when people stop believing in them, but rather when they stop believing in themselves.

And then the sun went out for good.

* * *

**Thanks to Spyro's Bud and Mandy for betaing! :D**

**Title courtesy of Maiden-of-the-midnight-moon. Summary courtesy of HallowedHallsOfWriting.**

**For Kay. Merry Christmas, you Infant Whore. **

**Loooooooooooove you. **


End file.
